Prosecutors will always include all possible charges; they have to because of double jeopardy (gross but generally accurate simplification: if they only charge

Prosecutors will always include all possible charges; they have to because of double jeopardy (gross but generally accurate simplification: if they only charge you with one crime for an act and you immediately plead guilty, they cannot charge you with more crimes for that act). * If I kill you via your heart implant I get a murder charge. You can tack on a computer trespass charge if you like but it seems a little extraneous now doesn't it?* Special circumstances charges always play a role in determining sentencing. By adding in the computer hacking charge, that murder sentence could go from 25 years with the possibility of parole to life without. For example: I once had a client who had a simple gun possession charge attached to an attempted murder/robbery charge. By itself, the gun possession charge would normally have only been a 1-3 year sentence (he was a convicted felon), but attached to a violent crime, even though the gun was not used in the crime it automatically added 15 years to the end of any sentence imposed by the judge, with no room for discretionary adjustment. Well, I'd rather have 1 year than 35, wouldn't you? This proposal is still loads better than the status quo. I would rather pay a small fine than go to prison at all for something like what Aaron did. As I said, it overpenalizes what he did but vastly underpenalizes far more serious crimes. Hold on, if I disrupt a power grid or steal your identity, I am already violating a slew of other laws. The prosecutor should, rightfully, be using those laws to charge me If I kill you via your heart implant I get a murder charge. You can tack on a computer trespass charge if you like but it seems a little extraneous now doesn't it? Yes, they should, but they would still need to actually convict you in court (or get you to plead). There may not be sufficient evidence of those other crimes to convict on those other charges, but that would not ameleriorate the seriousness of, say, hacking the power grid.